Brevard College will present a showing of the classic 1923 silent film, Safety Last! on Sunday, April 2nd at 3pm, starring Harold Lloyd as “The Boy,” and his wife Mildred Davis as “The Girl.” Brevard College Professor of Music, Vance Reese, will accompany the film on the Kirkpatrick-Coleman organ.
Silent films are still used as an effective art form today, and the music accompanying Safety Last! will be partly improvised, and partly drawn from written pieces, with occasional bits of modern references and humor thrown in. The film is considered one of the greatest comedic stunt films of that genre, containing the memorable scene of Lloyd hanging from a clock face on a skyscraper. (Reese, however, will not be hanging from the balcony!) Even though the film is unrated, today it would merit a G-rating.
Other fun facts about Safety Last! include: Lloyd and Davis had been married for two years and had appeared in fifteen movies together, total; Lloyd did most of his own stunts, only occasionally allowing a stunt double; due to an explosion on a movie set for an earlier picture, he did many of his later stunts without half of his right hand; he wore a prosthetic glove to hide his damaged hand.
The film will screen in the Scott Concert Hall in the Porter Center on the Brevard College campus. The event is open to the public, but donations for the maintenance of the organ are gladly accepted. The film lasts an estimated 1.25 hours.